The medical bail plea of Newsclick founder and Editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha, who is being held in Tihar jail under anti-terror laws, was postponed by the Supreme Court on Monday till April 22.
The appeal of Purkayashta, seeking release on medical grounds, was postponed until next Monday by a bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta since his senior advocate, Kapil Sibal, was not available.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) was previously ordered by the supreme court to establish a medical board in order to assess Purkayastha’s health.
It had requested that the director of AIIMS form the board and produce a report that took into account the petitioner’s whole medical history as well as his jail records.
The supreme court’s directive followed Sibal’s admission to the bench that the jail authorities’ information regarding his client’s medical condition was incorrect.
Prior to this, Purkayastha had previously petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn his detention under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) on the grounds that Chinese money was allegedly being used to spread anti-national propaganda.
He challenged the Delhi High Court’s October 13, 2023, order upholding the trial court order remanding him to police custody. He has since been remanded to judicial custody.
Earlier, NewsClick’s human resources department head, Amit Chakravarty had withdrawn from the Supreme Court his petition against his arrest.
A Delhi court had allowed Chakravarty to turn an approver in the case lodged against the news portal.
On October 3, the Delhi police’s special cell arrested Purkayastha and Chakraborty after searching thirty addresses linked to the online news portal and its journalists. The complaint was brought under the UAPA when it was claimed that the portal had received funding for pro-China propaganda.
Subsequently, Purkayastha and Chakravarty moved the High Court to challenge both the arrest and the seven-day police custody, and they requested an immediate release as a temporary solution.
Their appeals were denied by the High Court, which expressed its opinion that,”the fact that serious offences affecting stability, integrity, sovereignty and national security have been alleged against the petitioner, this Court is not inclined to pass any favorable orders.”
The news portal was allegedly heavily funded by China in order to “disrupt the sovereignty of India” and incite anti-Chinese sentiment, according to the FIR.
Purkayastha was also accused by the investigation agency of working with the People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) to manipulate the results of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.